RELENTLESS SURRENDER

  THE SURRENDER SERIES, BOOK FOUR

  ZOE BLAKE

  Copyright © 2018 by Zoe Blake & Poison Ink Publications

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the

  author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design by Dark City Designs

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  About Zoe Blake

  Also by Zoe Blake

  CHAPTER 1

  “Forget the T.V. It’s too heavy. Grab the iPad!”

  Conner opened one eye and quickly shut it against the glaring afternoon sun. Dammit, in his exhaustion, he forgot to close the bedroom shades.

  “Don’t worry about the clothes or the cheap stuff.”

  Conner rolled onto his stomach, tossing a pillow over his head to block out the two female voices from across the hall. Telling himself he didn’t give a damn what they were about. After twenty-two hours in the dank cargo hold of a C-17 with two hundred other men on a flight from Afghanistan to Washington with a five-hour layover in Germany, he didn’t care if they were murdering someone next door, all he wanted was sleep.

  “What about the bastard’s PlayStation?”

  “Fucking smash it to pieces!”

  That’s it, thought Conner. Murder was one thing but standing by why another man’s PlayStation got destroyed, even a stranger’s, was another. It was guy thing.

  Jumping out of bed, heedless of his half naked state, he confidently strode across the small apartment. Promptly, smashing his toe into some random boxes in the middle of the living room floor. “God Damn it!” he ground out as he limped for a step or two. The short burst of pain not improving his already sour mood.

  The apartment was not his. Having gotten in a little after three am he didn’t get a chance to really get the lay of the terrain before face planting in the bed. Having no home of his own, Conner was crashing at a buddy’s during a five-week leave. Knowing his friend, he should have guessed the place would be barely furnished and littered with half empty moving boxes. His friend spent almost as much time deployed overseas as he did.

  Ten years ago, Conner walked away from a tenured professorship to become a Marine. His friends and family blamed his failed marriage. Said he was just confused and going through a phase. Bullshit. Men didn’t go through phases. It was simple. He married the wrong woman when he was too young. Fate stepped in and saved him. Well, fate in the shape of a rich, car dealer. His wife wanted pretty, sparkly things and he wanted more out of life than a shallow wife who only wanted pretty, sparkly things. All’s well that ends well. The ink dried on his enlistment papers before it dried on his divorce papers. He sold everything he owned and lived only for the Corp ever since. He had never been happier. His life had purpose. He made a difference. He relished his role as protector and fighter.

  Although at this particular moment, there were two unknown females who were going to need protection from him.

  Sage was breaking the law. It was for a good reason but for some reason she didn’t think the cops would see it that way if they got caught. It was all in the service of her long-time friend, Melissa. Sage loved her friend dearly but she also dearly tried her patience. For all her intelligence, Melissa had rubbish taste in men. This last one was a real doozy. After two weeks of dating, her friend was “in love” and had moved in with “Ricardo”. It took half that time to realize, Ricardo was not his real name…shocker! Her friend’s Lying Latin Lover had also run up her credit cards, put a mysterious large dent in the passenger door of her car and stolen her iPhone. The last straw for Sage was when Melissa showed up at her apartment with a black eye.

  It had taken two bottles of pinot grigio, one disgusting roll of raw cookie dough and both The Notebook and Sleepless in Seattle but Melissa finally agreed to leave the lying, probably cheating, bastard. The only problem was the apartment was technically his. So, they had waited till he left for work to sneak in/break in to retrieve her stuff and well…perhaps do a little payback while they were there.

  Sage was desperately shoving Melissa’s belongings into a tiny Hello Kitty suitcase she found next to the sofa. Why a twenty-eight-year-old woman had a Hello Kitty suitcase was a conversation that would have to wait for another time. During the euphoric high from too much wine and ridiculously raised romantic expectations (she blamed Hollywood), this all seemed like a great idea, but now Sage was terrified Melissa’s somewhat large, violent boyfriend could return at any moment.

  She needed to get Melissa out of here.

  Grabbing a teddy bear from the bureau, then sliding her arm along the top to dump all Melissa’s makeup, jewelry and random hair crap into her bag, Sage rushed back into the living room.

  At that moment, the front door crashed open. Sage’s heart stopped. Filling the doorway, was over six feet of very angry male. Correction. Over six feet of practically naked very angry male. Good lord! The man was a huge wall of solid muscle, from his broad chest to his thickly, toned arms. He even had the deep ridges from six pack abs that you usually only see in magazine underwear ads. Speaking of underwear. He was wearing navy blue Calvin Klein’s that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Sage reflexively swallowed. If that’s what his cock looked like slack it must be positively frightening hard and fully aroused! The illicit thought sent a deep flush to her already pink cheeks. Needing to distract herself from this stranger’s large cock, Sage dragged her eyes up to his face. Big mistake.

  Christ! The man was gorgeous. Right down to his slightly crooked nose. Probably broken in a fight, Sage mused. Yes, a fight. Where he got all sweaty and worked up…and…and…

  “What the fuck is going on in here?” Conner growled.

  The deep, masculine voice startled Sage out of her school girl daydream.

  “Your eyes match your underwear,” she blurted out.

  “What?” he asked, thoroughly confused.

  Sage just stood there, mouth agape. Mortified. While it was true his eyes were a deep blue that perfectly matched the dark blue underwear that still hugged his considerable package, she had no intention of telling him so! She had no choice but to go on the offensive.

  “I meant…just who do you think you are doing barging in here?” Sage ordered in her most haughty, commanding voice.

  Conner ran his hand down his face. Reaching deep into his training for calm and discipline. First some recon.

  This apartment was larger than his buddy’s, but the layout was similar. Unlike his buddy’s it was filled with furniture and various belongings, most of which seemed to be tossed on the floor. In the corner was a female in her late twenties, rather tall with curly red hair. She froze the moment he entered, which was good since she had a PlayStation suspended over her head.

  It was the second female who really caught his attention. Also, in her late twenties, she was petite with wavy, honey-brown hair cut a few inches above her shoulders. It seemed to twirl and bounce every time she moved her head. The early afternoon sunlight played off what he was certain were faint pink highlights, showing she had a bit of a wild streak about her. Despite her small stature, she had nice tits which were gloriously on display in a tight, baby-doll t-shirt which also showed off her small waist and curvy hips. Conner would need to think of a reason to make her bend over so he could check out her ass.

  It was a good thing he didn’t become too distracted by those amazing tits and finally looked up to see her face, otherwise he would have missed those gorgeous, big, brown eyes checking out his cock. He felt his shaft stir to life. Down boy. He still needed to assess the situation. The last thing he needed was a raging hard-on while possibly confronting two thieves, regardless of how beautiful one of them may be.

  The red head moved, raising her arms higher, preparing to drop the PlayStation.

  Conner pointed a menacing finger in her direction and said in his most authoritative voice, “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to put that down, right now.”

  Melissa lowered her arms and looked to Sage for guidance.

  “You can’t tell her what to do!” cried Sage. “Smash it, Melissa!”

  Melissa raised her arms again.

  “Ma’am, I’m warning you.”

  Melissa lowered her arms.

  “Don’t call her Ma’am!” ordered a frustrated Sage, arms akimbo. “Melissa if you don’t smash that, I will.”

  The little one was quite the spitfire when she was angry, thought Conner. That kind of energy was usually equally as fun in bed. He really did enjoy a woman with spirit. He had to admire her loyalty to her friend as well, not many woman would face larceny charges in the service of a friend. Not to mention face down a complete stranger who was as intimidating as himself.

  Melissa raised her arms again.

  “Ma’am is a sign of respect which I am trying to show you despite the fact you are probably both thieves,” said Conner as he took a step further into the room, his eyes focused on Sage. Without turning his head or losing focus, he warned Melissa again, “Put that damn thing down before I lose my patience

.”

  “Sage, I can’t hold it any longer. It’s heavier than it looks,” whined Melissa.

  Sage? Conner laughed. “What the hell kind of name is Sage?”

  Sage drew her shoulders back, affronted. The offended movement lost on Conner since it only served to push her breasts out more prominently. Sage had been teased about her odd name her whole life. She would be damned if she would explain to this arrogant ass about her unorthodox upbringing with her two Chef parents. Besides Sage was the lucky one, just ask her sister, Damiana, named after a Mexican aphrodisiac herb her parents “enjoyed” before Damiana was conceived.

  “Forget it. Just grab your stuff and let’s get out of here,” directed Sage to Melissa. “We have already wasted enough time.” The last part was uttered with a disgusted look directed at Conner.

  She didn’t care if he was one of the sexiest men, she had ever laid eyes on. He was distracting them from their purpose, which was to grab Melissa’s stuff, destroy a little of Ricardo’s crap and get the hell out of there.

  “What exactly is going on here?” he asked, again. Trying to keep his attention on the matter at hand and not on her beautiful pink lips and all the possibilities with them that came to mind.

  Clearly, they were not going to make a clean get away until this man got his explanation thought Sage. Sensing he had a very low tolerance for bullshit, she decided that an abridged version of the truth was her best bet. She also needed to get as far away from him as possible as soon as possible before she truly embarrassed herself by staring too long or saying something really bad like blurting out please fuck me! Besides, they had already done enough damage to the Lying Latin Lover’s apartment.

  “Not that it is any of your business,” responded an exasperated Sage, “but my friend just broke up with one of your asshole kind and we are here to retrieve her stuff.”

  Conner raised an eyebrow, taking in the completely trashed apartment behind her.

  Without missing a beat, Sage said archly, “We were in a hurry,” by way of a completely, unapologetic explanation.

  “Uh…huh,” said Conner, trying to look serious and failing. The fact was he was a Marine, not a cop. He didn’t even know the poor bastard these woman had targeted. As long as they weren’t leaving with the T.V. or anything really expensive, he didn’t see why it was his business to get more involved.

  Turning to Melissa, he stated, “Well Ma’am, on behalf of my asshole kind please accept my apologies. Carry on.” Conner turned to leave.

  Just as he was crossing the hall, he could hear the Spitfire’s friend loudly whisper, “Why didn’t you ask for his number?”

  “Are you serious?” asked Sage.

  “Why not?” said Melissa. “He’s hot.”

  “Um…maybe because he caught us in the middle of committing a felony and we’re lucky he didn’t call the cops!” rejoined Sage. “Now grab this stupid Hello Kitty suitcase of yours and let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  Melissa was right. The guy was incredibly hot but it wasn’t just the circumstances that were all wrong. Sage could tell he was one of those arrogant take-charge types. She was far too independent to ever even consider dating a guy like that. Plus, the whole felony larceny thing would probably be a deal breaker any way.

  Conner closed the door on the rest of their conversation. Making his way back to the bedroom, careful to avoid the pile of boxes this time, he collapsed on the bed. The moment he closed his eyes a vision of almond-shaped, doe brown eyes and large pink lips assailed him. Grabbing a pillow, Conner smashed it against his face and groaned. He was only in town for a few weeks before he left for training, then more than likely another deployment.

  He needed a chick who was game for a few laughs and a quick fuck with no strings. Any idiot could see Sage was not that kind of a woman. Despite being grouped together with his temporary unknown neighbor he was not the “asshole kind”. As a Marine, he was a man of honor. He took that seriously. It was why, despite their obvious attraction, he didn’t pursue it. Didn’t try to ask for her number like he wanted too. A woman like that deserved some steady nine-to-fiver like an accountant. Someone who would wine and dine her. Not fuck her and leave her.

  “Fuck, he’s back early. Quick get in the car, Melissa,” called out Sage.

  Conner was on his feet in an instant. He heard Sage through the open bedroom balcony door. She was out front in the apartment parking lot. Dammit. The “asshole kind” bastard boyfriend must have returned. Throwing on a pair of jeans, he started for the front door.

  “Get your hands off her asshole!” screamed Sage.

  No time for doors thought Conner as he turned and headed straight for the balcony door. Bracing his hands, he vaulted over the railing, thankful it was a first-floor apartment with only a short ten-foot drop. Landing in the soft, slightly wet grass with his bare feet, he ran the quick distance to the parking lot.

  There he found a stocky, Hispanic male wrestling with his Spitfire and her friend. The guy had her friend by the upper arm, trying to force her to drop that ludicrous, pink suitcase.

  “Let go, bitch!” he growled. “It’s mine!”

  “You owe me, bastard!” yelled Melissa. “I’m taking the Hello Kitty suitcase!”

  “Seriously, people?” blurted out Sage. “You are both adults! Are you seriously arguing over a little girl’s suitcase in the middle of fucking parking lot right now?”

  Melissa was so ashamed at her friend’s chastisement, she suddenly let go of the handle. Unfortunately, the Lying Latin Lover Ricardo did not expect it. The suitcase swung in a wide arch, hitting Sage squarely in the chest, knocking her onto the asphalt.

  Sage launched to her feet, spitting mad. Just as she sprung at Ricardo, claws bared, there was a crushing weight against her stomach and a powerful force hauling her backwards. From the top of her head to the curve of her bottom, all she felt was solid muscled heat.

  “Easy, Spitfire. I got this,” whispered an amused voice warmly against her ear.

  Shocked, Sage looked down to see a large toned arm wrapped securely around her waist. Tilting her head back…way back since the top of her head barely reached his shoulder…she stared into the presumptuous blue eyes of the stranger from across the hall.

  “You again,” she sputtered.

  Conner’s lips quirked up in the right corner in a half smile. Thoroughly enjoying how his arm had pushed the top of her full breasts up above the neckline of her tiny tee, he chuckled, “Me again.”

  Shifting her slight weight to his right side, Conner once again leaned down to whisper suggestively in her left ear, “You can think of way to thank me properly later.”

  Ignoring Sage’s indignant retort, Conner turned his attention back to the unknown male and her friend, Melissa, who had resumed their struggle over the suitcase. He assessed the male. Taking in the scuffed combat boots, the hint of a beaded chain around his neck and the faded regiment tattoo on his forearm, he would say Army. The guy was also out of shape, needed a haircut and obviously lacked discipline. Ex-Army. Definitely not a former officer more than likely a grunt.

  “Heel little Doggie,” Conner barked out, knowing the derogatory term the Marines’ used for Army soldiers would get his attention. He wasn’t wrong. Ricardo immediately swung his attention to him.

  “What the fuck did you just say?” His eyes glowing with anger.

  Sage, who had been heretofore struggling to no avail to get out of Conner’s grasp, stilled. Sensing how the tension ratcheted up to a scary degree, she shot glances between the two men.

  “It figures an Army would need a command repeated,” smirked Conner. The animosity between the Marines and Army was well documented. Even if this guy hadn’t been Army, Conner would have had an issue with him. The hit to Sage was enough but he also noticed the faint bruise under her friend’s eye that makeup failed to cover in the bright daylight.

 

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